Standing committee chairpersons elected in Kozhikode Corporation

The impact of the hung council in the Kozhikode Corporation was felt in the election of the various standing committee chairpersons on Tuesday, and culminated in a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillor being elected as a standing committee chairperson for the first time in the history of the Corporation.

Vineetha Sajeevan of the BJP was pitched against K. Saritha of the Congress in the election to the post of chairperson of the Tax and Appeals standing committee, as the BJP and the Congress had four votes each in the committee, while one member was from the CPI(M). The chairperson was selected by draw of lots as the CPI(M) councillor abstained from voting.

The election of the other standing committee chairpersons was not as complicated as the Left Democratic Front (LDF) had a majority in six of them, while the United Democratic Front (UDF) had a majority in one. While deputy mayor S. Jayasree is the de facto chairperson of the finance standing committee, the other party nominees for the chairperson posts did not have to face much opposition.

The other new standing committee chairpersons from the CPI(M) are V.P. Manoj (Development), K. Rajeev (Health), C. Sandesh (Town Planning), Sujatha Koodathinkal (Public Works), while Sara Jafar of the CPI is the Education and Sports standing committee chairperson. Kavitha Arun, an IUML Independent councillor, is the Welfare standing committee chairperson.

Meanwhile, the UDF alleged that the CPI(M) facilitated the BJP’s victory in the standing committee election by reducing its presence in the Tax appeals standing committee to just one and later abstaining from voting. District Congress Committee president K. Praveen Kumar and IUML State president M.A. Razak, in a joint statement, alleged that the CPI(M) had also helped the BJP to gain more seats in the council through clever delimitation and cross-voting in the recent local body elections.

On the other hand, deputy mayor S. Jayasree said that it was the lack of planning on the part of the UDF that led to the result. Despite having 28 seats, the UDF could not manage to gain a majority in two committees. Also, the Congress does not have any chairperson posts to its credit, she added.

With 35 seats in the 76-strong council, the LDF is the ruling party in Kozhikode Corporation. However, the combined strength of the opposition parties (UDF-28 and NDA-13) is more than that of the ruling front, which makes every decision-making quite tricky in the council in the days to come.